On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
(Format used for this read: Print–hardback)
At home they are just sisters, but on stage, they are The Salvations. Ruth, Esther, and Chloe have been singing and dancing in harmony since they could speak. Thanks to the rigorous direction of their mother, Vivian, they’ve become a bona fide girl group whose shows are the talk of the Jazz-era Fillmore.
Now Vivian has scored a once-in-a-lifetime offer from a talent manager, who promises to catapult The Salvations into the national spotlight. Vivian knows this is the big break she’s been praying for. But sometime between the hours of rehearsal on their rooftop and the weekly gigs at the Champagne Supper Club, the girls have become women, women with dreams that their mother cannot imagine.
The neighborhood is changing, too: all around the Fillmore, white men in suits are approaching Black property owners with offers. One sister finds herself called to fight back, one falls into the comfort of an old relationship, another yearns to make her own voice heard. And Vivian, who has always maintained control, will have to confront the parts of her life that threaten to splinter: the community, The Salvations, and even her family.
Over Christmas break, my sister in law and her husband were visiting our family for a few days.
One afternoon after we had a delicious local brunch, we decided to make a family trip to the Books a Million in the nearby suburban shopping center.
(Yes I know…we perfectly fit into a middle class stereotype…but if the shoes fits, yall 🤣)
Let me tell you that it had been awhile since I had been shopping in a big ol’ bookstore (I usually stick to small local or used places)….and I absolutely RAIDED the bargain area….I left with STACKS of clearance books.😁
This book was one of many in my armful and I am SO GLAD it ended up there because it was a FANTASTIC read.
This story is about a mom and her daughters, and it alternates back and forth between all of their POVs.
Which I have said eleventy bagillion times I completely love.
Vivian is completely a “mom-ager” for her 3 girls–she is completely devoted to helping them make it as a professional singing group.
She teaches them harmonies and choreography and leads them in evening rehearsals on the rooftop of their building most nights of her life.
While this book IS about their journey as performers, it is also about their journey as a family.
It’s about daughters growing up, learning which dreams belong just to them and which dreams belong to their mothers and their sisters, their communities and their society.
It’s about a mother and her fierce devotion to ensuring her daughters shine as bright as she knows they can.
It’s about moving beyond grief and loss– in more ways than one– and finding others to walk the path with you.
It’s about learning about one’s true self… and how to open up to new ideas, new feelings, new adventures, new abilities and new realizations.
It’s also about learning to let go….of past failures, past regrets, and unmet expectations.
But what is also happening in this story involves this family AND their community as a whole….
The gentrification disguised as “redevelopment” of their Fillmore neighborhood in San Francisco.
Yall know I love to learn some new things, especially about history AND especially while I’m reading engaging fiction.
I was not aware of the setting of this book…..the “Harlem of the West”, as the Fillmore district has been described.
Like other urban areas in America, it was profoundly impacted by Roosevelt’s 1949 Housing Act, which authorized destruction and demolition of neighborhoods that were considered “slums”….specifically targeting non-white or low income populations.
Straight up racism disguised as “urban renewal”.
UGHHHHHHHHHH.
This “redevelopment” of predominantly Black owned Fillmore affected nearly 20,000 people. Heartbreaking and infuriating…..to say the least.
You can read more about this history in this short article:
This really is a very emotional, interesting, and well written novel that I think many people will enjoy.
I definitely recommend it!